Biography

Al Feldstein was born in 1925 in Brooklyn, New York. He was interested in comics and comic art from an early age, and attended art school at night while working as assistant for a comic publisher by day. After a stint in the Army Air Corp during WW II, Feldstein returned to work as a freelancer. In 1947, he landed a job with EC Comics, where he quickly rose to editorship. He edited, wrote, drew, and created such titles as Tales From the Crypt, Vault of Horror, Haunt of Fear, Weird Science, Weird Fantasy, Crime Suspenstories, Shock Suspenstories and Panic.

Feldstein was famous for his bizarre aliens and gory horror images, but he was also responsible for adapting the works of Ray Bradbury into comic form, and publishing some of the early works of Harlan Ellison. In 1955, EC got out of the comic business to focus on publishing its humor magazine, "MAD". After "MAD" creator Harvey Kurtzman left EC, Al Feldstein became editor, a job he held until his retirement in 1984. During his editorship, he was responsible for the creation of MAD's trademark spokesperson, Alfred E. Neuman, as well as increasing circulation to almost 3,000,000. Now living in Montana, Mr. Feldstein still draws, but focuses more on wildlife and nature subjects.